February Client of the Month - Don Greene

Imagine cruising along on your motorcycle one minute and the next thing
you know you have medical bills adding up to at least 1.2 million dollars.
That’s exactly what happened to Don Greene, retired from the US
Army after 23 years who went on to work at the US Postal Service for 17
years. Now, imagine having to worry about those medical bills from a hospital bed.

Waking up in the hospital three days after being airlifted to Charlotte
from the accident sight in Taylorsville, Don and his wife knew they had
to seek help. They contacted a friend that they trusted, a retired US
Marshall who rides. He immediately threw out Jason’s name. Don’s
wife called and Jason Taylor and another attorney from The Law Offices
of Jason E. Taylor were there the following day. This is Don’s message
to you. The following is Don’s story in his words, a 69 year old
husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather to a sweet 7 month
old baby girl. Don has been a true rider and motorcycle enthusiast since
from the age of 16, logging over 340,000 miles. He took his bike with
him and enjoyed riding all through Europe while he served in Germany from
1985 to 1991 and has made the Rolling Thunder ride on Memorial Day weekend
in Washington, DC 11 times. He’s into NASCAR; his favorite driver
is Martin Truex and also enjoys Ice Hockey being a fan of the Washington
Capitals in the NHL while traveling to Charlotte often to watch the Charlotte
Checkers play. A good guy living a good life with his family, he served
his country and retired to enjoy.

“I had gone to Charlotte with my wife on a Thursday as she was attending
a training seminar. My friend called and said” you know that rally
that we usually go to in West Virginia, why don’t we ride up Friday
and return Saturday? “Once I got home I got on my bike to go meet
my friend, we made it from Conover to Taylorsville, about 30 mins down
the road. I saw a Jeep Cherokee in the oncoming lane waiting to turn with
his left turn signal on. I could see the driver looking down either at
his radio or at something in his passenger seat. I slowed down from about
45 mph to 35 mph and dropped down a gear as a caution. I saw him start
to raise his head up and could tell he was going to make the turn as he
gassed it. I tried to avoid it as best I could. The only thing I can guess
is when he came up his view of me was blocked by his mirror and window
post and he thought he could make the turn in front of my friend who was
following me on his bike. Well, there I was, he hit me with the left front
of his vehicle as I had almost cleared him, catching my left leg between
my motorcycle and his Jeep. The bike went down under the Jeep and I was
thrown about 15ft in the air and landed about 50ft down the road face
down”.

“Surprisingly, I was conscious throughout the whole thing. There
was a state trooper on the scene that took a picture of me and sent it
to my wife, after talking to her, letting her see I was conscious. What
he didn’t realize was that while I may have been conscious in the
picture, my wife who is in the medical field, immediately noticed that
I was laying on my stomach with my feet stretched out behind me, right
foot facing down and my left foot was pointed at the sky toes first”.

“I had to be airlifted and was fortunate that there was a helicopter
already on its way to Hickory to pick up someone. They deemed me more
serious, made a detour to pick me up and the helicopter was on the scene
in 12 minutes. They must have given me some sort of calming medicine once
on the gurney and moving into the helicopter as I remember being in and
out while in flight, then remembering arriving at the hospital. Then I
was unconscious for at least the next 36 hours going through surgeries”.

“When I woke up they informed me that I was given 19 units of blood
from bleeding internally, I believe they called it a compression impact
bleed. The ribs on my left side were all cracked or fractured collapsing
my left lung, my pelvic bone was broken outward in the front in what is
called an open book fracture, hip bone was broken in 5 places, knee was
crushed, tibia was broken in 5 places, fibula was broken in 2 places,
ankle was crushed, and my left rotator cuff was torn. The biggest thing
for the doctors was to get me back breathing normally inflating my collapsed
lung then to make sure I wasn’t bleeding inside lastly they worked
on turning my leg back around. Turning my leg back around and those muscles
healing right was a major concern, if not I was facing the real possibility
of losing my leg.”

“The doc would come in every morning around 4:30am to pinch my toes
to check blood flow. After 3 weeks he could see there was some blood flow
and they were able to go back in and do some more repairs, they had to
remove some muscle tissue due to the extreme damage”.

“Through 9 surgeries, being in the hospital for 7 weeks, and rehab
for 11 weeks I was able to come home in a wheelchair. Continuing physical
therapy I was able to move to a walker after 6 months and a year later
to a cane which I continue to use. I can wobble around the house taking
2 to 3 steps at a time without my cane as long as I have something to
put my hands on. I will most likely have to use the cane to get around
for the rest of my life. I am thankful that I was able to keep my leg.
I’m also thankful that I was wearing a full face helmet”.

“I knew I needed an attorney based on the extent of my injuries and
it was obvious that my wife and I wouldn’t be able to handle this
on our own. I was bedridden and my wife was busy by my side. In the end
I looked at the stack of paperwork, letters, bills and Explanation of
Benefits (EOBs) from insurances that became a 2ft tower on my desk, all
that was handled by The Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor. A thing about
hiring Jason that was really great is that he found 2 other places to
get money from that I would have never thought of. His firm handled all
the paperwork so I could focus on getting better and my wife could focus
on me. I was fortunate to have her and my daughter, who came up from Florida
through much of my time in the hospital, as with them working in shifts
I was never alone. The guy that hit me had the basic insurance so finding
money from other sources was extremely important. Even in my settlement,
my insurance companies Military Tricare and Medicare wanted money back
that they paid since they had covered my bills and I was receiving it
due to someone other than myself causing my injuries. Jason and his staff
conversed back and forth many times with Tricare and Medicare to get them
to reduce the amount they each wanted from my settlement. This was something
else most people, including myself, wouldn’t think about and I might
say shocked to learn.”

“I had ridden long enough to know that if something ever happened
to me that I didn’t want someone not knowing about riding to handle
this kind of situation. Knowing most of his cases are dealing with motorcyclist
and he is a rider himself made me feel even more comfortable going with
Jason. When I met him, his demeanor and ability to answer our questions
was just natural. His first comment was: don’t worry we’ll
take good care of this if you want us to. When he came to my bedside he
was first concerned with my well being. That continued throughout the
entire process. He came to see me several times in the hospital. Once
I got home and was able to be mobile I would go to his office, but Eileen,
on his staff, checked in often with my wife and always asked if we would
like them to come by and if we needed anything”.

“Without reservation I would absolutely recommend The Law Offices
to Jason E. Taylor to my friends and family. No matter the reason, even
if it wasn’t something he handles he would still be my first thought
because I trust him enough to know he would recommend the right person”.

“The fact is they took care of everything from the first paper that
came out even having a check for us within the first 2 weeks to cover
the cost of my motorcycle and riding gear. They kept my wife advised of
everything that was going on, making it super easy so my wife could take
care of me every day for 2 months. Once the case was settled, I was surprised
at the sum that he got for me and was definitely satisfied with everything
Jason got me and did for me. A person couldn’t ask for more knowledgeable
and truly caring people than those at The Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor”.

The information on this website is for general information purposes only.
Nothing on this site should be taken as legal advice for any individual
case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt
or viewing does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship.

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